Equestria Girls: Horizon Alternate Story
by joshthegreat
Summary: An alternate version of my version of Equestria Girls. This is a team effort, so 50% of the credit goes to PonySpin.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**A/N. This story has nothing to do with my other stories. It takes place during my version of Equestria Girls, but this isn't part of that story. It is a stand alone collaboration between PonySpin and myself. Enjoy.**

Josh walked into the band room. "Hey, Dust. I need to ask you a favor."

"You're the new guy who showed up here, with that Twilight Sparkle, right?" Dust asked.

"Yeah, I'm Josh."

"Dust Storm, nice to meet you. Your name is just as weird as Wilson's around here."

"It's common where I come from."

"Where are you from? Not here, and not Eques- Oops."

"Wait, were you about to say Equestria?"

"Yes." Dust looked down samefully.

"How do you know about it?"

"How do you know of it?" She retorted.

"I landed there after I was shot down."

"Weird, same here."

"Why haven't I seen you around? I would have noticed another human."

"When I came through, I was turned into a pony."

"I can switch forms at will. Did you here about the new Prince of Equestria?"

"No, I've been out of contact with Equestria for around two and a half years."

"Well, that prince is me. Anyways, you said you were shot down. What were you flying?"

"An Apache."

"Those haven't been used for decades. What year are you from?" Josh asked.

"Well, I was shot down in 2018, if that's what you're asking. There was a revolution, and the government collasped."

"I heard about that in history class."

"What year are you from?"

"2053. I was in the middle of my own war."

"Wow, I though the world would end before the war did." "Well, your government was put down after the UN acted in 2020."

"So, the UN finally grew a pair and joined the fighting?"

"Yeah. They had to get their collective forces organized. Your government still had nukes at the time."

"Wow. I'm just glad that I was out of there before the nukes dropped."

"They never did. The UN covertly dismantled them, and easily won the war." "Oh. So what was that favor you wanted?"

"I need to borrow your drumsticks."

"What for?"

"We have a plan to help Twilight beat Sunset Shimmer."

"Someone with the guts to confront Shimmer? Not even I want to do that."

"It's important. Have you heard of the Elements of Harmony?"

"Yeah, what about them?"

"The Fall Formal crown is one of them. Celestia and Luna sent us here to find it."

"Oh, Shimmer stole it, and it got confiscated and turned into the crown, didn't it?"

"... How did you know that?"

"Just a hunch."

"So, who are you voting for?"

"The one with the guts."

"That's good to know. Hey, the portal doesn't close till tommorrow night. Do you wan to come back with us?"

"Sure, although I'll miss having fingers. But there is good reason for it."

"What?" Dust was about to respond, when Flash Sentry walked in. "Oh, hi Flash. What do you want?"

"You're late for band practice. Wilson was getting worried." Flash said.

"I'm gonna loan Josh my drumsticks, so unless you have a spare, I can't do it. Sorry Flash."

"It's alright." He left. Josh turned towards Dust.

"That reminds me." He said.

"What?"

"A few weeks ago, the Changelings attacked. The Wilson from Equestria... well..."

"Go on. I've probably heard worse."

"He died." Joshs said looking down.

"Oh. Was it a good, warrior's death, or a stabbed in the back death?"

"He died protecting a group of foals."

"An honorable death then." A black aura started surrounding Dust. "Josh! Run!" She almost yelled. Josh backed away.

"What's going on?"

"Just-" Dust was cut off before she could finish, as the aura enveloped her. A shotgun appeared in her hands.

"Time to die." She said in a stereotypical deep evil voice.

"What the hell?!" Josh pulled out his sidearm. Dust slammed a shell into the gun, and charged. She threw her weight into a hit that would surely injure Josh. He braced for impact, not wanting to hurt her. The hit connected, sending Josh straight into the wall on the opposite side of the room.

"Ok, time for aggressive negotiation." He took a fighting stance. Dust fired several shots at him. He was able to avoid most of them, but several pellets dug into his chest. He threw a weak punch, them collasped in pain. Dust stood over him, shotgun pointed point blank at his head. Suddenly, something slammed into her, and she was knocked into the wall, unconscious.

Josh attempted to look up, his vision getting blurry. He saw Pinkie Pie holding what looked to be a giant confetti gun. Dust woke up slightly.

"Did someone get the number of the truck that hit me?" She asked before slipping back into unconsciousness. The black aura was gone.

Josh struggled to his feet. Pinkie was gone, which honestly didn't suprise him. He stumbled over to Dust. She groaned, but was pretty much out. He picked her up and started to carry her to the nurse's office.

Dust jolted awake. She gripped the shotgun, which she had held onto the entire time.

"Josh, what happened?" She asked worried.

"You went crazy and tried to kill me." He said, pointing out his chest wounds.

"That's never happened. At least, not that badly."

"I'm alright." He dropped her, coughing up a small amout of blood.

"No you aren't. Where's a combat surgeon when you need one?" She panicked.

"M-mine blew himself up. He was an IED specialist. Not a very good one though." Josh joked. He sat down, getting weaker.

"This is bad. This is very, very bad. Come on!" Dust lifted him onto her back. She hauled him all the way to the portal.

"If you see Dash, tell her I love her." Josh whispered. He lost consciousness. Dust threw him into the portal, before walking in herself. Dash ran over to him and glared at Dust.

"What have you done." She asked.

"Hey, I'm trying to save a man's life. Give me somebreathing room." Dust retorted.

"Corporal Williams, don't eat the C4." Josh mumbled. Dust giggled at that, before talking to Dash.

"Can you get Celestia, or Luna, or anypony that can help him?"

"Yes." Dash answered before speeding off.

Josh's chest stopped rising and falling.

"Oh god, I really don't want to do this." Dust muttered to herself. She gave him mouth-to-mouth. After a few minutes, he began to breath again.

"Thank god nobody came in here while I did that..." Celestia, Luna, and the Mane 6 gaped at her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**A/N This story takes place half way through Equestria Girls. Read the first two chapters of Equestria Girls Horizon to know what has happened. And read PonySpin's story "From the Warzone, Into the Unknown" to learn about Dust Storm.**

"Dammit." Dust swore before looking up. "Okay, long story short, he got shot. Not saying who did it, but it looks bad. Sunbutt, can you help him?"

"Excuse me?" Celestia huffed. Josh coughed up more blood.

"Just help him. He won't survive much longer." Dust said. She muttered to herself. "Sunbutt."

"Healing magic doesn't work on him." Celestia shook her head sadly. Josh woke up and clutched his chest, screaming in agony.

"Stay still, Josh." Dust said. She pulled a syringe of painkillers out of her backpack. She stabbed it into his side, and hoped that it would keep him alive a little longer."

"Don't... don't tell that I'm gonna be alright. I don't want to spend my last minutes being lied to." He said weakly.

"When did I say it was going to be alright?" Dust whispered in his ear. "I shot you."

"I forgive you." His eyes began to lose focus. Dust's eyes started to glow a bright white, like Twilight's do occasionally.

"I will not let another soldier die on my mark!" She said. A force shoved everyone else back, and Josh's wounds began to heal. He gasped for air, his eyes focusing on Dash.

"Pretty pony." He said. Dust punched his shoulder.

"Get up." She said, before Dash trotted over and hugged him.

"How many times are you going to die?" She asked him.

"None if I can-" He covered his mouth and coughed. He gazed at the three pellets that now sat in his hand. Dust picked up her shotgun and slung it on her back, trying to look as innocent as possible.

"First time I've been happy to see bullets." Josh passed out from exhaustion. Dash glared at Dust.

"What happened?" She demanded.

"Well, he got shot. It's a very long story." Dust explained, trying to stay as vague as possible.

"You're not tellin the whole truth." Applejack accused.

"No, I'm not. That's because I don't know what happened. We were talking when something attacked me, and I blacked out. I woke up to him carrying me to somewhere, when he started coughing up blood. I hauled him to the portal and brought him here." Dust said. She didn't remember anything after the black aura had enveloped her.

"... Alright. Now she's tellin the truth." AJ sighed. Dust took the chance to check her ammo. There were several shells missing, and it had been full earlier.

"By the way, the truck was P-i-n-k-i-e P-i-e." Josh groaned.

"What do you mean?" Dust asked the half conscious man.

"Party... cannon." He murmured.

"Oh great. I took a party cannon to the face. Yay."

Josh mumbled something.

"That explains my head-ache."

"Do you remember shooting me?" He asked. Everypony gasped.

"This is getting worse and worse." She sighed.

"Ya think?" Dust looked up and saw the glares of The Mane 6, Celestia, and Luna. She tried to run back to the mirror, but was tackled by Dash.

"Why did you attack him?" Luna demanded.

"I didn't. Something took control of my body and shot him. I think. I've already explained that I don't remember anything that happened. I'm sorry for whatever my body did, but I wasn't in control of it."

"Dash... let her go." Celestia said.

"Why? Why are you letting me go, when I shot one of your own? You have every right to do what you want to me, but why let me go?" Dust asked, confused.

"Because, you are too dangerous to be left alive." Celestia fired a blast at Dust, but Josh took the hit for her. He hit the ground, spasming as electricity coursed through his body

"Okay, that's it!" Dust yelled as the balck aura surrounded her. She swung the shotgun forward and charged Celestia. She slammed into the alicorn, shoulder forward, and knocked the princess back.

"Dust... get ahold of yourself!" Josh screamed in pain. He was dying again, and nopony could save him if...

Dust stopped, and the aura dissipated. "Now, If any of you try to hurt me again, I won't hesitate to pull the trigger, got it?" They nodded nervously, and Josh curled into a ball.

"Good." Dust walked over to Josh. "I saved your life, only to have it be stolen." She said sadly.

"It's- ugh- okay. Just tell Dash..." He breathed his last. Dash hugged him and sobbed.

"He's gone. I couldn't do anything. I'm sorry." Dust stated sadly.

"I-if he could forgive you, so can I." Dash said. Dust nodded.

"What do we do now? Twilight is still in the other world." Celestia asked.

"I have a plan. Sunbutt, do you have the fake."

"The fake crown?"

"Yeah, that." Celestia leveitated it to Dust.

"Good, Thank you." She said before jumping through the portal.

Twilight was arguing with someone.

"Where have you been?"

"For the last time, I don't know you." The guy said.

"This isn't funny, Josh."

Dust walked over.

"Sparkle, this isn't your Josh." She said.

"Finally, someone who agrees with me." The other Josh said.

"W-what do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"Come with me, and I'll explain." Dust led her to the band room.

"What happened?" Twilight surveyed the wreckage.

"There was a fight. Josh got hurt, bad. He's dead."

"N-no! That can't be true!"

"I'm sorry. Unless there is a way to revive him in Equestria, (wink wink) he's gone."

"If we use the elements, maybe we could save him!"

"Which takes us to part two of this coversation. Getting back the Element of Magic."

"We don't have time to wait for the dance. What will we do?"

"I just happened to have an almost exact replica of a certain Element, courtesy of a certain Princess Sunbutt."

"Although I find that name offensive, I like where this is going."

"A) That's why I gave her that nickname, It ticks her off. And B) If I can get to the real crown, I can do a swap. Only the people who have lived with the crown for a few years will know that it's a fake..."

"Need any help?" Josh 2 asked from the doorway. "I heard it all, and honestly, it explains a lot."

"Wait, all of it?" He nodded. "Well, a distaction would be good, but other than that, no." Dust answered.

"Can I borrow your gun?" He asked.

"No. It's very special to me." Dust hugged her shotgun.

"Wait." He said, picking up the gun that Josh 1 had dropped. "This'll work." He walked out to the front of the school, and fired into the air.

"Well, that works." Dust said, as everyone in the school started panicking. Principle Celestia got on the PA and announced a lockdown. Dust face palmed...


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**If you've gone this far without reading Ponyspin's or my own stories, this will only get more confusing for you. Blame any apparent randomness on Pinkie Pie. Futhermore, Dust = Emily.**

All of the students ram to the windows to see what was happening, and Celestia ran outside to try to calm Josh 2. Dust took the opportunity to slip out the door. She strided down the empty hallway unchallenged. She walked into the office, only to be stopped by Luna.

"What are you doing here?" The vice principal asked.

"I'm trying to save a man's life, di'kut. All I need is to get the Fall Formal crown, which has magical powers that just might save my friend's life, okay?"

"... Okay." Luna said simply. She took the crown from the shelf and handed it to dust.

"There you go. Tell Princess Luna I said hi." The vice principal smiled.

"Wait, how do you know of Luna and that I come from Equestria?" Dust asked, confused.

"You weren't the first one to come. Now, get going."

"Here, take this so at least there's a crown this year." Dust handed her the fake. Dust was about to leave, when Celestia stormed in.

"Oh, god. What now?" Dust muttered.

"The police have arrived." She turned to Dust. "Return to your class." She said, not noticing the crown in Dust's hands. Dust slipped the crown into her bag and stepped out of the room. She half ran to the band room, where Twilight was waiting.

"I got it." Dust smiled. As they ran to the portal, they saw Josh 2 struggling with two cops. When he saw Dust and Twilight, he smiled and stopped resisting. He was hand-cuffed and put in a squad car.

"We should help him!" Twilight said.

"It's too late. He made his sacrifice, so that we could get help for our Josh." Dust replied. She reached the portal, but before she could go through, a blast from the Party Cannon hit her. It knocked the bag off of her shoulder, and the crown flew the bag.

"Pinkie! What are you doing?" Twilight yelled.

"Take that you meanie pants!" Pinkie replied.

"We're trying to save Josh! He got hurt, bad." Dust groaned.

"Huh? That doesn't make any sense..."

"We need the crown to help him. He saved me, so I owe him."

"Do you mean this crown?" Asked Sunset Shimmer as she placed the crown on her head. She transformed into a demon like entity.

"Oh no!" Twilight gasped. Pinkie disappeared, Dust groaned, and the futuristic soldier yelled.

_Wait, what?! _Dust thought.

"Hey, Queen b****." He yelled as he stepped out of a floating portal, which soon disappeared. He looked at Dust.

"You Dust?" He asked.

"Major Emily 'Dust Storm' Darkhound, at your service." Dust said, snapping to attention.

"Dillon Clark, former UNC. Josh sent me a message, said you needed help." Dillon hefted his only weapon: a MG 35 Minigun. Emily stood up and picked her shotgun up off of the ground. She put a single shell into the gun, nodded at Dillon, and rushed Shimmer. Dillon spun up his massive weapon and let loose. The hail of bullets severely weakened Shimmer's magic shields.

The dark aura started to surround Emily, and she welcomed it. A well placed shotgun blast brought down Shimmer's shields.

"No! I cannot be defeated that easily." Sunset fired a blast of fire at Dillon, which melted his gun. She then threw a bolt at Dust, but that bolt was deflected by a black shield that suddenly appeared. Dillon tried to tackle her from the side, but Sunset threw him into the statue.

Emily, fed up with this fight, clubbed Sunset in the stomach with the butt of her gun. She picked up the crown.

"Come on, Twi. We're goin home." She said as she stepped through the portal. Dillon staggered to his feet and followed them. Emily came out to a room in ruins. Before she could move, however, Twilight and Dillon fell on her.

"I've never been here, but I'm pretty sure this isn't right." Dillon stated the obvious.

"You don't say..." Emily deadpanned. Dillon helped them up, taking note of the fact that while Dust and himself were still human, Twilight was now a purple unicorn.

"What happened here?" Dillon asked.

"How the hay do you expect us to know?" Twilight said. They heard a moan from a pile of rubble. Applejack's head popped up.

"Applejack, What happened?" Asked a now concerned Twilight. The farmpony pulled Josh's body from the wreckage.

"Oh God..." Dillon whispered, gazing at his dead friend.

"The Griffons attacked. The others are fightin' em off." AJ stated.

"This is bad. This is very, very bad." Emily said. She pulled a handgun from her bag and tossed it to Dillon. She ran outside. The courtyard was utter chaos. She could smell the stench of war. A Griffon dived at her, and received a shotgun blast to the face. Dillon opened fire, covering a group of Royal Guards.

"I didn't leave my dimension to fight these flying rats, but it sure is a bonus!" Dillon yelled gleefully. Even though the Griffons gave him a wide berth, Dash landed behind him to cover his back. Emily walked over to where Fluttershy was helping a wounded Guardsmare.

"Fluttershy, I need you to find the other Element bearers. Have them meet up in the throne room. It's important." Fluttershy looked up.

"Okay. I'll do it." She said with grim determination. The normally timid pegasus flew up, punched a Griffon out of the sky, and set out looking for Rarity and Pinkie Pie.

The trio soon arrived at the throne room. The rest of the bearers, Dust, and Dillon were guarding Josh's body at the base of the thrones.

"Well, Twilight, this was your idea. You tell them what we're going to do." Dust said.

"We're going to revive Josh using the Elements." Twilight stated simply.

"Is that even possible?" Asked a confused Fluttershy. "Dead is, well, dead." Emily nodded at the pegasus. She had hardened quickly, assuming that this battle had only been going on for a few hours.

"We have to try." They gathered into a circle, and their Elements began to glow. A rainbow beam shot out of the Elements. It struck the corpse, which shook violently. Suddenly, Josh stood up.

"What happened here?" He asked. He saw Dust.

"Emily, nice to see that your still kickin' after that suicide run. If it wasn't for you, my squad and I would be six feet under." He said.

"What do you mean?" Dust asked. "Wait, how do you know my name? All I've told you is my nickname."

"Sorry, forgot that it's been a while. Raul Ramierez, 12th Airbourne Division." He stuck out his hand.


End file.
